Innocente
by Dark Cosmos
Summary: What would've happened if Tom Riddle's diary wasn't opened by Ginny Weasley? What if she gave it to fellow student, Usagi Tsukino? Voldemort/Usagi


****Disclaimer: J.K.Rowling owns Harry Potter Naoko Takeushi owns Sailor Moon  
  
****Author's Note: This fic came to me while I was brooding in my depressed mode. It's a dark romance (my specialty). Voldemort as Usa's father is beginning to get over done...so this is something new. I've taken actual excerpts from Chamber of Secrets. This may be a one-shot...I don't know yet, depends whether you like it or not.  
****  
~At Flourish and Blotts  
The crowd cheered and clapped and Harry Potter found himself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, he managed to make his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny Weasley was standing next to her new cauldron.  
  
"You have these", Harry mumbled to her, tipping the books into the cauldron. "I'll buy my own-"  
  
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" Said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face to face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer. "Famous Harry Potter", said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."  
  
"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.  
  
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.  
  
"Oh, it's you", said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh?"  
  
"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley", retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for that lot."  
  
Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron too and started towards Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket.  
  
"Ron!" said Mr Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's mad in here, let's go outside".  
  
"Well, well, well-Arthur Weasley".  
  
It was Mr Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder sneering in the same way.  
  
"Lucius", said Mr Weasley, nodding coldly.  
  
"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear", said Mr Malfoy. "All those raids...I hope they're paying you overtime?"  
  
He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amidst the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of 'A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration'.  
  
"Obviously not", he said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"  
  
Mr Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.  
  
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy", he said.  
  
"Clearly", said Mr Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr and Mrs Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley...and I thought your family could sink no lower-"  
  
There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr Weasley had thrown himself at Mr Malfoy, knocking him backwards into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of, 'Get him, Dad!' from Fred or George; Mrs Weasley was shrieking, 'No, Arthur, no!'; the crowd stampeded backwards, knocking more shelves over; 'Gentlemen, please-please!' cried the assitant and then louder than all, 'Break it up, there, gents, break it up-'  
  
Hagrid was wading towards them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy apart. Mr Weasley had a cut lip and Mr Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.  
  
"Here, girl-take your book-it's the best your father can give you-"  
  
Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.  
  
"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur", said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that. No Malfoy's worth listenin' ter. Bad blood, that's what it is. Come on now-let's get outta here".  
  
The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it.  
  
****  
  
Usagi Tsukino was your ordinary everyday squib. She was born into a wizarding family, even her younger brother could do little tricks here and there. Both she and her brother were born in Japan, having Japanese parents, but they had had their schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and had insisted that their children do the same as well.  
  
Needless to say, when Usagi had gotten her letter from Hogwarts a year previous, her parents had been astatic. She was in her second year at Hogwarts now, and had proven to be nothing more than a regular Muggle with wizard parents.   
  
She did manage to pass all of her subjects, barely, but did. Her teachers were always strict with her, insisting that if she tried harder, then she'd be able to achieve just like anyone else. They were wrong...at least, she, thought so.  
  
Usagi was also an outcast. She avoided anybody and everybody. She had no friends. She was also a scrawny little girl, with golden blond hair that was kept up in a Japanese hair style, and crystalline blue eyes. Her pale skin also didn't help matters either, causing her to look sickly all the time. Other students avoided her as well, which suited her, they thought she was very odd and some students would go out of their way to pick on her.   
  
That's why when Usagi first met first year Ginny Weasley, they clicked right away and became instant best friends.   
  
Ginny Weasley was the youngest of seven children, and was a Gryffindor. The fact that she and Usagi (who was in Slytherin) were in rival houses, didn't bother either girl one bit. They met while making their way to breakfast on the first day of classes. They had collided with each other (Usagi having quite a klutzy habit), and spilled their books all over the place.  
  
"I'm sorry", Usagi had said softly. The redhead in front of her blushed embarrassed.  
  
"It was my fault too...I'm Ginny Weasley, I'm a first year". Usagi grinned back.  
  
"I'm Usagi Tsukino, second year, nice to meet you". They had began chatting quietly while picking up their dropped books, until Ginny noticed one in particular with a curious expression on her face.  
  
"That's odd, I don't remember getting this one..." She opened the cover and noticed that the pages were blank, "I must've picked it up by accident". She handed it to Usagi, "do you want it? I don't need it."   
  
Usagi took the book gratefully...the first present she had ever received from someone other than an immediate family member.  
  
"Thank you!" Then the duo headed to their own tables to eat their breakfast before walking together towards their first classes.  
  
****  
  
After the evening meal, students rushed back to their respective Towers, heading off to either do homework or go right to bed. Usagi remained in the common room in the Slytherin Tower into the night, writing in her new diary. This diary seemed to have a special twist to it, however.  
  
'My name's Usagi Tsukino'. She wrote onto the first blank page, and watched with amazement as the ink disappeared, and new letter appeared in it's stead.   
  
'Hello, Usagi, my name's Tom Riddle'. Usagi eagerly scribbled her quill across the page.  
  
'Is this your diary, Tom?' She asked, 'my friend found it by mistake, and gave it to me'. She watched as the ink again disappeared.  
  
'Yes, this was my diary, once, but now it belongs to you, if you like'. Was the reply. Usagi felt her cheeks flush with happiness.  
  
'Oh yes, this will be like having my own personal friend to talk to whenever I like. I don't have many friends, I'm glad you want to be mine'.   
  
'It's been a while since I've talked to anyone as well. Tell me about yourself.' This caused Usagi to stay up most of the night, pouring out her life history of twelve years into the pages. When a Slytherin Prefect finally told her to go to bed, she quickly scribbled a good night to Tom and closed the diary, causing her to lose herself in her thoughts wondering whether she should give away her secret.  
  
There was another reason why her parents didn't like her as much as her brother, they may have been happy about her being excepted into Hogwarts, but she had much more to her past than twelve years worth of memories.   
  
Just before her twelfth birthday, a cat had come to her parents one afternoon, with an odd quality. It could talk. And not only that, it had a crescent moon etched on it's forehead. The cat mentioned that it had been searching for years for a certain warrior of the moon, called 'Sailor Moon'. And the cat was convinced Usagi was it. And not only that, she was also told that she was the reincarnated Princess of the Moon.   
  
That was the only reason Usagi's parents weren't convinced she was a squib. But they kept her true identity secret, even from Shingo, Usagi's brother. The cat remained as a family pet, Usagi not yet needing to become Sailor Moon until it was time. It was best for her to act as though she was any normal student at Hogwarts.  
  
Harry Potter had taken all the fame and attention for the time being. Which suited Usagi just fine, noone would find out about her special circumstance as long as she had anything to say about it.   
  
But Tom Riddle was another story, Usagi could tell him...after all, he was just a diary...  
~Mudbloods and Murmurs  
It was nearly lunchtime and as Harry had only had one bit of treacle fudge since dawn, he was keen to go back to school to eat. They said goodbye to Hagrid and walked back up to the castle, Ron hiccoughing occasionally, but only bringing up two, very small slugs.  
  
They had barely set foot in the cool Entrance Hall when a voice rang out. "There you are, Potter, Weasley". Professor McGonagall was walking towards them, looking stern. "You will both do your detentions this evening."  
  
"What are we doing, Professor?" said Ron, nervously suppressing a burp.  
  
"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr Filch", said Professor McGonagall. "And no magic, Weasley-elbow grease".  
  
Ron gulped. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student in the school.  
  
"And you, Potter, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail", said Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Oh no-can't I go and do the trophy room too?" said Harry desperately.  
  
"Certainly not", said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "Professor Lockhart requested you particularly. Eight o'clock sharp, both of you."   
  
Harry and Ron slouched into the Great Hall in states of deepest gloom, Hermione behind them, wearing a well-you-did-break-school-rules sort of expression. Harry didn't fancy his shepherd's pie as much as he'd thought. Both he and Ron felt they'd got the worse deal.  
  
"Filch'll have me there all night", said Ron heavily. "No magic! There must be about a hundred cups in that room. I'm no good at Muggle cleaning".  
  
"I'd swap any time", said Harry hollowly. "I've had loads of practice with the Dursleys. Answering Lockhart's fan mail...he'll be a nightmare..."  
  
Saturday afternoon seemed to melt away, and in what seemed like no time, it was five minutes to eight, and Harry was dragging his feet along the second floor corridor to Lockhart's office. He gritted his teeth and knocked.  
  
The door flew open at once. Lockhart beamed down at him.  
  
"Ah, here's the scallywag!" he said. "Come in, Harry, come in".  
  
Shining brightly on the walls by the light of many candles was countless framed photographs of Lockhart. He had even signed a few of them. Another large pile lay on his desk.  
  
"You can address the envelopes!" Lockhart told Harry, as though this was a huge treat. "This first one's to Gladys Gudgeon, bless her-huge fan of mine".  
  
The minutes snailed by. Harry let Lockhart's voice wash over him, occasionally saying 'mmm' and 'right' and 'yeah'. Now and then he caught a phrase like, 'fame's a fickle friend, Harry', or 'celebrity is as a celebrity does, remember that'.  
  
The candles burned lower and lower, making the light dance over the many moving faces of Lockhart watching him. Harry moved his aching hand over what felt like the thousandth envelope, writing out Veronica Smethley's address. It must be nearly time to leave, Harry thought miserably, please let it be nearly time...  
  
And then he heard something-something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans.   
  
It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone-marrow, a voice of breath-taking, ice-cold venom.  
  
"Come...come to me...let me rip you...let me tear you...let me kill you..."  
  
Harry gave a huge jump and a large lilac blot appeared on Veronica Smethley's street.  
  
"What?" He said loudly.  
  
"I know!" said Lockhart. "Six solid months at the top of the best seller list! Broke all record!"  
  
"No", said harry frantically. "That voice!"  
  
"Sorry?" said Lockhart, looking puzzled. "What voice?"  
  
"That-that voice that said-didn't you hear it?"  
  
Lockhart was looking at Harry in high astonishment.  
  
"What are you talking about, Harry? Perhaps you're getting a little drowsy? Great Scott-look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! I'd never have believed it-the time's flown, hasn't it?"  
  
Harry didn't answer. He was straining his ears to hear the voice again, but there was no sound now except for Lockhart telling him he mustn't expect a treat like this every time he got detention. Feeling dazed, Harry left.  
  
It was so late that the Gryffindor common room was almost empty. Harry went straight up to the dormitory. Ron wasn't back yet. Harry pulled on his pyjamas, got into bed and waited. Half and hour later, Ron arrived, nursing his right arm and bringing a strong smell of polish into the darkened room.  
  
"My muscles have all seized up", he groaned, sinking on his bed. "Fourteen times he made me buff up that Quiddtich cup before he was satisfied. And then I had another slug attack all over a Special Award for Services to the School. Took ages to shift the slime...How was it with Lockhart?"  
  
Keeping his voice low so as not to wake Neville, Dean and Seamus, Harry told Ron exactly what he had heard.  
  
"And Lockhart said he couldn't hear it?" said Ron. Harry could see him frowning in the moonlight. "D'you think he was lying? But I don't get it-even someone invisible would've had to open the door".  
  
"I know", said Harry, lying back in his four poster and staring at the canopy above him. "I don't get it either."  
~The Deathday Party & The Writing on the Wall  
October had arrived, and the air had gotten cooler and more damp, causing many students to catch colds. Ginny had noticed that her friend, Usagi had seemed quite peaky, and insisted she take some of Madam Pomfry's Pepperup Potion. Usagi reluctantly agreed, although it didn't seem to help, much.  
  
Ginny invited Usagi to eat at the Halloween Feast over at the Gryffindor table with her (Usagi left halfway through), although that night, Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't there. They had instead agreed to partake in a Deathday party down in the dungeons.  
  
****  
  
They backed towards the door, nodding and beaming at anyone who looked at them, and a minute later were hurrying back up the passageway full of black candles.  
  
"Pudding might not be finished yet", said Ron hopefully, leading the way towards the steps to the Entrance Hall.  
  
And then Harry heard it.  
  
"...rip...tear...kill"  
  
It was the same voice, the same cold, murderous voice he had heard in Lockhart's office.  
  
He stumbled to a halt, clutching at the stone wall, listening with all his might, looking around, squinting up and down the dimly lit passageway.  
  
"Harry, what're you-?"  
  
"It's that voice again-shut up a minute-"  
  
"...soo hungry...for so long..."  
  
"Listen!" said Harry urgently, and Ron and Hermione froze, watching him.  
  
"...kill...time to kill..."  
  
The voice was growing fainter. Harry was sure it was moving away-moving upwards. A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him as he stared at the dark ceiling; how could it be moving upwards? Was it a phantom, to whom stone ceilings didn't matter?  
  
"This way", he shouted, and he began to run, up the stairs, into the Entrance Hall. It was no good hoping to hear anything here, the babble of talk from the Halloween Feast was echoing out of the Great Hall. Harry sprinted up the marble staircase to the first floor, Ron and Hermione clattering behind him.  
  
"Harry, what are we-"  
  
"SHH!"  
  
Harry strained his ears. Distantly, from the floor above, and growing fainter still, he heard the voice: "...I smell blood...I SMELL BLOOD!"  
  
His stomach lurched. "it's going to kill someone!" he shouted, and ignoring Ron and Hermione's bewildered faces, he ran up the next flight of steps three at a time, trying to listen over his own pounding footsteps.  
  
Harry hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Ron and Hermione panting behind him, not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.  
  
"Harry, what was that all about?" said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. "I couldn't hear anything..."  
  
But Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down the corridor.  
  
"Look!"  
  
Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached, slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches.  
  
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.  
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.  
  
"What's that thing-hanging underneath?" said Ron, a slight quiver in his voice.  
  
As they edged nearer, Harry almost slipped over: there was a large puddle of water on the floor. Ron and Hermione grabbed him, and they inched towards the message, eyes fixed on a dark shadow beneath it. All three of them realized what it was at once, and leapt backwards with a splash.  
  
Mrs Norris, the caretaker's cat, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.  
  
For a few seconds, they didn't move. Then Ron said, "Let's get out of here".  
"Shouldn't we try and help-" Harry began awkwardly.  
  
"Trust me", said Ron. "We don't want to be found here".  
  
But it was too late. A rumble, as though of distant thunder, told them that the Feast had just ended. From either end of the corridor where they stood came the sound of hundreds of feet climbing the stairs, and the loud, happy talk of well-fed people; next moment, students were crashing into the passage from both ends.  
  
The chatter, the bustle, the noise died suddenly as the people in the front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students, pressing forward to see the grisly sight.  
  
Then someone shouted through the quiet.  
  
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"  
  
It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.  
  
"What's going on here? What's going on?"  
  
Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.  
  
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?" he shrieked.  
  
And his popping eyes fell on Harry.  
  
"You!" he screeched, "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"  
  
"Argus!"  
  
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron and Hermione and detached Mrs Norris from the torch bracket.  
  
"Come with me, Argus", he said to Filch. "You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger".  
  
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.  
  
"My office is nearest, Headmaster-just upstairs-please feel free-"  
  
"Thank you, Gilderoy", said Dumbledore.  
  
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.  
****  
  
That night, Usagi's diary entry seemed to be very interesting to Tom Riddle. Usagi wrote furiously.  
  
'A cat was attacked today', she began, 'everybody thinks Harry Potter is the heir of Slytherin.'  
  
'Who's Harry Potter?' Tom asked. Usagi then gave detailed facts about why Harry was so famous, and why she didn't like the fact that her best friend, Ginny, liked Harry so much.  
  
****  
  
For a few days, the school could talk of little but the attack on Mrs Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back. Harry had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall with 'Mrs Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover', but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone. When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like 'breathing loudly' and 'looking happy'.  
  
The attack also had an effect on Hermione. It was quite usual for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing almost nothing else. Nor could Harry and Ron get much response from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the following Wednesday did they find out.  
  
Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks. After a hurried lunch, he went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin-Finch Fletchely, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming towards him. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin caught sight of him, turned abruptly and sped off in the opposite direction.   
  
Harry found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three foot long composition on 'The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards'.  
  
"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short..." said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment which sprang back into a roll, "and Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny".  
  
"Where is she?" asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling his own homework.  
  
"Somewhere over there", said Ron, pointing along the shelves, "looking for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas".  
  
Harry told Ron about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.  
  
"Dunno why you care, I thought he was a bit of an idiot", said Ron, scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. "All that rubbish about Lockhart being so great-"  
  
Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable and at last seemed ready to talk to them.  
"All the copies of Hogwarts: A History have been taken out", she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron. "And there's a two week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books".  
  
"Why do you want it?" said Harry.  
  
"The same reason everyone else wants it", said Hermione, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets".  
  
"What's that?" said Harry quickly.  
  
"That's just it. I can't remember", said Hermione, bitting her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else-"  
  
"Hermione, let me read your composition", said Ron desperately, checking his watch.  
  
"No, I won't", said Hermione, suddenly severe. "You've had ten days to finish it".  
  
"I only need another two inches, go on..."  
  
The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.  
  
History of Magic was the dullest subject on their timetable. Professor Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard. Ancient and shriveled, many people said he hadn't noticed he was dead. He had simply got up to teach one day and left his body behind him in an armchair in front of the staff room fire; his routine had not varied in the slightest since.  
  
Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally falling asleep again. He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened before. Hermione put up her hand.  
  
Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.  
  
"Miss-er-?"  
  
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets", said Hermione in a clear voice.  
  
Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head came up off her arms and Neville's elbow slipped off his desk.  
Professor Binns blinked.  
  
"My subject is History of Magic", he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends". He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk snapping and   
continued, "In September of that year, a sub-committee of Sardinian sorcerers-"  
  
He stuttered to a halt. Hermione's hand was waving in the air again.  
  
"Miss Grant?"  
  
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"  
  
Professor Binns was looking at her in such amazement, Harry was sure no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead.  
  
"Well", said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose". He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen such a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale..."  
  
But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns' ever word. He looked dimly at them all, every face turned to his. Harry could tell he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.  
  
"Oh, very well", he said slowly. "Let me see...the Chamber of Secrets...  
  
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago-the precise date is uncertain-by the four greatest witches and wizards during the Silver Millennium under the moon queen Selenity's rule. The four school houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was common on the earth, even the ruler, King Endymion himself, knew a bit of magic."  
  
He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued, "For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."  
  
Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise.  
  
"Reliable historical sources tell us this much", he said, "but these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.  
  
"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."  
  
There was silence that filled Professor Binns' classes. There was unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for more. Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.  
  
"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course", he said. "Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."  
  
Hermione's hand was back in the air.  
  
"Sir-what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"  
  
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control", said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy voice.  
  
The class exchanged nervous looks.  
  
"I tell you, the thing does not exist", said Professor Binns, shuffling his notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster".  
  
"But, sir", said Seamus Finnigan, "if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no on else would be able to find it, would they?"  
  
"Nonsense, O'Flaherty", said Professor Binns in an aggravated tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses and even King Endymion himself haven't found the thing-"  
  
"But, Professor", piped up Parvati Patil, "you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it-"  
  
"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic, doesn't mean he can't, Miss Pennyfeather", snapped Professor Binns. "I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore-"  
  
"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't-"began Dean Thomas, but Professor Binns had had enough.  
  
"That will do", he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!"  
  
And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.  
~The Dueling Club  
In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry, Ron and Hermione signed her list; they had heard that Malfoy was staying, which struck them as very suspicious. The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of him.  
  
Unfortunately, the potion was only half-finished. They still needed the Bicorn horn and the Boomslang skin, and the only place they were going to get them was from Snape's private stores. Harry privately felt he'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than have Snape catch him robbing his office.  
  
"What we need", said Hermione briskly, as Thursday afternoon's double Potions Lesson loomed nearer, "is a diversion. Then one of us can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need".  
  
Harry and Ron looked at her nervously.  
  
"I think I'd better do the actual stealing", Hermione continued in a matter of fact tone. "You two will be expelled if you get in any more trouble, and I've got a clean record. So all you need to do is cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so".   
  
Harry smiled feebly. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was bout as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.  
  
Potions lessons took place in one of the large dungeons. Thursday afternoon's lesson proceeded in the usual way. Twenty cauldrons stood steaming between the wooden desks, on which stood brass scales and jars of ingredients. Snape prowled through the fumes, making waspish remarks about the Gryffindors' work while the Slytherins sniggered appreciatively. Draco Malfoy, who was Snape's favorite student, kept flicking puffer-fish eyes at Ron and Harry, who knew that if they retaliated they would get detentions faster that you could say 'unfair'.  
  
Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he had his mind on more important things. He was waiting for Hermione's signal, and he hardly listened as Snape paused to sneer at his watery potion. When Snape turned and walked off to bully Neville, Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.  
  
Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket and gave it a quick prod with his wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only seconds, Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Goyle's cauldron.  
  
Goyle's potion exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Malfoy got a faceful and his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of dinner plates, while Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Harry saw Hermione slip quietly out the door.  
  
"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft. When I find out who did this..."  
  
Harry tried not to laugh as he watched Malfoy hurry forward, his head drooping with the weight of a nose like a small melon. As half the class lumbered up to Snape's desk, some weighed down with arms like clubs, other unable to talk through gigantic puffed-up lips, Harry saw Hermione slide back into the dungeon, the front of her robes bulging.  
  
Harry then turned his head towards the girl sitting next to him, she was looking at him with wide eyes.   
  
"You shouldn't've..." she began quietly, Harry gulped.  
  
When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush.  
  
"If I ever find out who threw this", Snape whispered, "I shall make sure that person is expelled".  
  
Harry arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled expression. Snape was looking right at him, but then he looked towards Usagi who also held a puzzled expression and his features softened. He looked towards some other Gryffindor students instead. Harry looked towards Usagi again.  
  
"Thanks", he said quietly, Usagi smiled.  
  
"No problem". Five minutes later the bell rang and was very welcome.  
  
"He knew it was me", Harry told Ron and Hermione, as they hurried back to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. "I could tell, luckily that Slytherin girl next to me bailed me out."  
  
"A Slytherin? No way..."  
  
"Yeah, Ginny's friend, Usagi I think her name was...you know Snape is always nice to students from his own house..."  
  
Hermione threw the new ingredients into the cauldron and began to stir feverishly.  
  
"It'll be ready in a fortnight", she said happily.  
  
"Snape can't prove it was you", said Ron reassuringly to Harry. "What can he do?"  
  
"Knowing Snape, something foul", said Harry, as the potion frothed and bubbled.  
  
****  
  
Christmas holidays had arrived, not many students lingered in the halls now since most had gone home to spend Christmas with their families. Usagi was not one of them. She spent most of her time in the Slytherin Tower, away from everyone else. She had also refused to take part in the Dueling Club that was started a few weeks before the holidays. Two people had been attacked and Petrified. A first year Gryffindor, Colin Creevy, and a boy that everyone thought Harry Potter had been after since he could speak Parseltongue, Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchy.  
  
She spent most of her time writing in the diary to Tom. She told him everything, and he didn't seem to find any of her past odd at all. In fact, he seemed to find it very helpful for some reason. Usagi was wondering why she tended to nap so much lately...  
  
That day she had been sitting on the stairs near the common room when Malfoy's henchmen, Crabbe and Goyle came in. She knew right away that something was odd between them, since after only a few minutes of conversation Crabbe's hair seemed to be turning red on the spot. She had a feeling that whoever they actually were, were getting Malfoy to talk for some reason...she decided to go to Tom on this one.  
~The Very Secret Diary  
Valentine's Day had soon arrived, and since the school was in a dampened mood, Professor Lockhart had decided to make the day festive, as much as everyone hated the idea. He even had dwarfs dressed up as cherubs go around the school with Valentines.  
  
All day long, the dwarfs kept barging into their classes to deliver Valentines, to the annoyance of the teachers, and late that afternoon, as the Gryffindors were walking upstairs for Charms, one of them caught up with Harry.  
  
"Oy, you! 'Arry Potter!" shouted a particularly grim-looking dwarf, elbowing people out of the way to get to Harry.  
  
Hot all over at the thought of being given a Valentine in front of a queue of first years, which happened to include Ginny Weasley, Harry tried to escape. The dwarf, however, cut his way through the crowd by kicking people's shins, and reached him before he'd gone two paces.  
  
"I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person', he said, twanging his harp in a threatening sort of way.  
  
"Not here", Harry hissed, trying to escape.  
  
"Stay still!" grunted the dwarf, grabbing hold of Harry's bag and pulling him back.  
  
"Let me go!" Harry snarled, tugging.  
  
With a loud ripping noise, his bag split in two. His books, wand, parchment and quill spilled onto the floor and his ink bottle smashed over the lot.  
  
Harry scrambled around, trying to pick it all up before the dwarf started singing, causing something of a hold-up in the corridor.  
  
"What's going on here?" came the cold, drawling voice of Draco Malfoy. Harry started stuffing everything feverishly into his ripped bag, desperate to get away before Malfoy could hear his musical Valentine.  
  
"What's all this commotion?" said another familiar voice, as Percy Weasley arrived.  
  
Losing his head, harry tried to make a run for it, but the dwarf seized him around the knees and brought him crashing to the floor.  
  
"Right", he said, sitting on Harry's ankles, "here is your singing Valentine:  
  
'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,  
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.  
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,  
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord'.  
  
Harry would have given all the gold in Gringotts to evaporate on the spot. Trying valiantly to laugh along with everyone else, he got up, his feet numb from the weight of the dwarf, as Percy Weasley did his best to disperse the crowd, some of whom were crying with mirth.  
  
"Off you go, off you go, the bell rang five minutes ago, off to class, now", he said, shooing some of the younger students away, "And you, Malfoy".  
  
Harry glancing over, saw Malfoy stoop and snatch up something. Leering, he showed it to Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry realised that he'd got Riddle's diary.  
  
"Give that back", said Harry quietly.  
  
"Wonder what Potter's written in this?" said Malfoy, who obviously hadn't noticed the year on the cover, and thought he had Harry's own diary. A hush fell over the onlookers. Usagi was staring from the diary to Harry, looking terrified.  
  
"Hand it over, Malfoy", said Percy sternly.  
  
"When I've had a look", said Malfoy, waving the diary tauntingly at Harry.   
  
Percy said, "As a school Prefect-", but Harry had already lost his temper. He pulled out his wand and shouted, 'Expelliarmus!' and just as Snape had disarmed Lockhart, so Malfoy found the diary shooting out of his hand into the air. Ron, grinning broadly, caught it.  
  
"Harry!" said Percy loudly. "No magic in the corridors. I'll have to report this, you know!"  
  
But Harry didn't care, he'd got one over on Malfoy, and that was worth five points from Gryffindor any day. Malfoy was looking furious, and as Ginny passed him to enter her classroom, he yelled spitefully after her, "I don't think Potter liked your Valentine much!"  
  
Ginny covered her face with her hands and ran into the class. Snarling, Ron pulled out his wand, too, but Harry pulled him away. Ron didn't need to spend the whole of Charms belching slugs.  
  
It wasn't until they had reached Professor Flitwick's class that Harry noticed something rather odd about Riddle's diary. All his other books were drenched in scarlet ink. The diary, however, was as clean as it had been before the ink bottle had smashed all over it. He tried to point this out to Ron, but Ron was having trouble with his wand again; large purple bubbles were blossoming out of the end, and he wasn't much interested in anything else.  
~Cornelious Fudge  
When Usagi had seen the diary in Harry's possession, she knew she had to get it back somehow. One afternoon she decided to ask Ginny if they could study together, and in the confines of the Gryffindor Tower. She knew that she wasn't allowed there, but Ginny, feeling quite brave, decided to sneak Usagi into the room, wearing spare Gryffindor robes. Since Usagi was an outcast, noone recognized her to be a Slytherin.  
  
When she had the chance, Usagi had ransacked Harry's things and stole the diary back, being very desperate, and afraid of the thought of Tom telling someone else all her secrets.  
  
Harry had come back to his room later that night to find his things strewn about...but knew nothing of who actually did the stealing.  
  
****  
  
They woke next day to brilliant sunshine and a light, refreshing breeze.  
  
"Perfect Quidditch conditions!" said Wood enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table, loading the team's plates with scrambled eggs. "Harry, buck up there, you need a decent breakfast".  
  
Harry had been staring down the packed Gryffindor table, wondering if the new owner of Riddle's diary was right in front of his eyes. Hermione had been urging him to report the robbery, but Harry didn't like the idea. He'd have to tell a teacher all about the diary and how many people knew why Hagrid had been expelled fifty years ago? He didn't want to be the one who brought it all up again.  
  
As he left the Great Hall with Ron and Hermione to go and collect his Quidditch things, another, very serious worry was added to Harry's growing list. He had just set foot on the marble staircase when he heard it yet again: 'Kill this time...let me rip...tear...'  
  
He shouted aloud and Ron and Hermione both jumped away from him in alarm.  
  
"The voice!" said Harry, looking over his shoulder. "I just heard it again-didn't you?"  
  
Ron shook his head, wide-eyed. Hermione, however clapped a hand to her forehead.  
  
"Harry-I think I"ve just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"  
  
And she sprinted away, up the stairs.  
  
"What does she understand?" said Harry distractedly, still looking around, trying to tell where the voice had come from.  
  
"Loads more than I do", said Ron, shaking his head.  
  
"But why's she got to go to the library?"  
  
Because that's what Hermione does", said Ron, shrugging. "When in doubt, go to the library".  
  
Harry stood, irresolute, trying to catch the voice again, but people were now emerging from the Great Hall behind him, talking loudly, exiting through the front doors on their way to the Quidditch pitch.  
  
"You'd better get moving", said Ron. "It's nearly eleven-the match".  
  
Harry raced up to Gryffindor tower, collected his Nimbus Two Thousand and joined the large crowd swarming across the grounds, but his mind was still in the castle, along with the bodiless voice, and as he pulled on his scarlet robes in the changing room, his only comfort was that everyone was now outside to watch the game.  
  
The teams walked onto the pitch to tumultuous applause. Oliver Wood took off for a warm-up flight around the goal-posts, Madam Hooch released the balls. The Hufflepuffs, who played in canary yellow, were standing in a huddle, having a last minute discussion of tactics.  
  
Harry was just mounting his broom when Professor McGonagall came half-marching, half-running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.  
  
Harry's heart dropped like a stone.  
  
"This match had been cancelled", Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. There were boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran towards Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick.  
  
"But Professor!" he shouted. "We've got to play...the cup...Gryffindor..."  
  
Professor McGonagall ignored him and continued to shout through her megaphone: "All students are to make their way back to the house common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"  
  
Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned Harry over to her.  
  
"Potter, I think you'd better come with me..."  
  
Wondering how she could possibly suspect him this time, Harry saw Ron detach himself from the complaining crowd; he came running up to them as they set off towards the castle. To Harry's surprise, Professor McGonagall didn't object.  
  
"Yes, perhaps you'd better come too, Weasley".  
  
Some of the students swarming around them were grumbling about the match being cacelled, others looked worried. Harry and Ron followed Professor McGonagall back into the school and up the marble staircase. But they weren't taken to anybody's office this time.  
  
"This will be a bit of a shock", said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the hospital wing. "There has been another attack...another double attack."  
  
Harry's insides did a horrible somersault. Professor McGonagall pushed the door open and he and Ron entered.  
  
Madam Pomfrey was bending over a fifth year girl with long curly hair. Harry recognized her as the Ravenclaw they'd accidentally asked for directions to the Slytherin common room. And on the bed next to her was-  
  
"Hermione!" Ron groaned.  
  
Hermione lay utterly still, her eyes open and glassy.  
  
"They were found near the library", said Professor McGonagall. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them..."  
  
She was holding up a small circular mirror.  
  
Harry and Ron shook their heads, both staring at Hermione.  
  
"I will escort you back to Gryffindor Tower", said Professor McGonagal heavily. "I need to address the students in any case."  
~The Chamber of Secrets  
Usagi was ready when Tom called for her, it was nearing the end of the school year now, and Usagi had become merely a shadow of what she was. She walked around like a zombie, rarely ever speaking, even to her friend Ginny, who she began avoiding. It was time to go to the Chamber once and for all, she had even written her own farewell on the wall and left, without anyone noticing.  
  
****  
  
Echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified.  
  
"All students to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately please".  
  
Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron.  
  
"Not another attack? Not now?"  
  
"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"  
  
"No", said Harry, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of wardrobe to his left, full of teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."  
  
They hid themselves inside it, listening to the rumbling of hundreds of people moving overhead, and the staff room door banging open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.  
  
"It has happened", she told the silent staff room. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself".  
  
Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"  
  
"The Heir of Slytherin", said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. 'The girl will remain within the Chamber forever'.  
  
Professor Flitwick burst into tears.  
  
"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed into a chair. "Which student?"  
  
"A second year...Usagi Tsukino", said Professor McGonagall. "We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow", said Professor McGonagall. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."  
~The Heir of Slytherin  
He was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.  
  
His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the Basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Usagi?  
  
He pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadow walls. He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hallow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir.  
  
Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.  
  
Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: it was ancient and monkey-like, with a long thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where to enormous grey feet stood on the smooth chamber floor. And between the feet, standing silent and tall, was a strange silvery-haired goddess that Harry had never seen before in his life.  
  
She looked no younger than sixteen, her skin as pale as moonlight, and tattered clothing lay limply across her body. She was rather short, but her silvery-blond hair reached down to the floor, an invisible wind seemed to cause wisps of the silk to curl around her shapely features. She remained silent, watching as Harry slowly approached her, an upturned crescent moon glowed softly upon her forehead.   
  
Then Harry looked into her eyes. The woman had eerie cerulean blue eyes, and he knew now where he had seen them before.  
  
"Usagi!" Harry muttered, flinging his wand aside, he ran right up to her, and grabbed her arms. "We need to get out of here, there's a monster..."  
  
"She won't go with you", said a soft voice.   
  
Harry jumped and spun around.  
  
A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry was looking at him through a misted window. But there was no mistaking him.  
  
"Tom-Tom Riddle?"  
  
Tom nodded, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.  
  
"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly, taking his hands off of Usagi's arms.  
  
"A memory", said Tom quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years".  
  
He pointed towards the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was the little black diary Harry had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there-but there were more pressing matters to deal with.  
  
"You've got to help me, Tom", Harry said, moving towards Usagi again. "We've got to get her out of here. There's a Basilisk...I don't know where it is, but it could be along any moment. Please, help me..."  
  
Tom didn't move. Harry, sweating, looked to pick up his wand again.  
  
But his wand had gone.  
  
"Did you see-?"  
  
He looked up. Tom was still watching him-twirling Harry's wand between his long fingers.  
  
"Thanks", said Harry, stretching out his hand for it.  
  
A smile curled the corners of Tom's mouth. He continued to stare at Harry, twirling the wand idly.  
  
"Listen", said Harry urgently, "we've got to go! If the Basilisk comes..."  
  
"It won't come until it is called", said Tom calmly.  
  
"What d'you mean?" he said. "Look, give me my wand, I might need it."  
  
Tom's smile broadened.  
  
"You won't be needing it", he said.  
  
Harry stared at him.  
  
"What d'you mean, I won't be-?"  
  
"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter", said Tom. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you".  
  
"Look", said Harry, losing patience, "I don't think you get it. We're in the Chamber of Secrets. We can talk later".  
  
"We're going to talk now", said Tom, still smiling broadly, and he pocketed Harry's wand. Tom moved towards Usagi and touched her arm, her crescent moon glowed brightly for a few moments, the glow also forming around Tom, before her eyes closed and she collapsed into Tom's arms, obviously exhausted. The glow subsided, and Tom had become more solid, he slowly lay Usagi's body down on the ground, before facing Harry again.  
  
Harry stared at him. There was something very funny going on here.  
  
"How did Usagi get like this?" he asked slowly.  
  
"Well, that's an interesting question", said Tom pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Usagi Tsukino's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."  
  
"What are you talking about?" said Harry.  
  
"The diary", said Tom. "My diary. Little Usagi's been writing in it for months and months, telling me all her pitiful worries and woes: how she's an outcast at school, how her only friend is a first year from Gryffindor, how she didn't think famous, good, great, Harry Potter would ever notice her..."  
  
All the time he spoke, Tom's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.  
  
"It's very boring, having to listen to the silly little troubles of a twelve-year-old girl", he went on. "But I was patient. I wrote back, I was sympathetic, I was kind. Usagi simply loved me. 'No one's ever understood me like you, Tom...I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in...It's like having a friend I can carry round in my pocket..."  
  
Tom laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.  
  
"If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed. So Usagi poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted. I grew stronger from her hidden healing magic that had been dormant inside of her until she first opened my diary...a magic that is so much more powerful than you can even imagine...I grew powerful, powerful enough to start feeding Usagi a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her..."  
  
"What d'you mean?" said Harry, whose mouth had gone very dry.  
  
"Haven't you guessed yet, Harry Potter?" said Tom softly. "Usagi Tsukino aged because she's the reincarnated form of the Moon Princess Serenity from nearly a thousand years ago...when Hogwarts was first erected. She's only been considered a squib because the ancient powers within her had yet to be awakened, only when needed, she had said. Usagi opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on four Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat."  
  
"No", Harry whispered.  
  
"Yes", said Tom, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. It was very amusing. I wish you could have seen her new diary entries...Far more interesting, they became... 'Dear Tom', he recited, watching Harry's horrified face, 'I think I'm losing my memory. There are rooster feathers all over my robes and I don't know how they got there. Dear Tom, I can't remember what I did on the night of Holloween, but a cat was attacked and I've got paint all down my front. Dear Tom, Ginny's getting worried about me, she keeps telling me that I'm pale and I'm not myself. I think she suspects me...There was another attack today and I don't know where I was. Tom, what am I going to do? I think I'm going mad...I think I'm the one attacking everyone, Tom!'"  
  
Harry's fists were clenched, the nails digging deep into his palms.  
  
"That Ginny Weasley became suspicious of Usagi's diary", said Tom, "Miss Weasley stole it and tried to dispose of it. And that's where you came in, Harry. You found it, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was you, the very person I was most anxious to meet..."  
  
"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Anger was coursing through him and it was an effort to keep his voice steady.  
  
"Well, you see, Usagi told me all about you, Harry", said Tom. "Your whole fascinating history". His eyes roved over the lightening scar on Harry's forehead, and his expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. So I decided to show you my famous capture of that great oaf, Hagrid, to gain your trust."  
  
"Hagrid's my friend", said Harry, his voice now shaking. "And you framed him, didn't you? I thought you made a mistake, but-"  
  
Tom laughed his high laugh again.  
  
"It was my word against Hagrid's, Harry. Well, you can imagine how it looked to old Armando Dippet. On the one hand, Tom Riddle, poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student; on the other hand, big, blundering Hagrid, in trouble every other week, trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed, sneaking off to the forbidden forest to wrestle trolls. But I admit, even I was surprised how well the plan worked. I though someone must realize that Hagrid couldn't possibly be the Heir of Slytherin. It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance...as though Hagrid had the brains, or the power!  
  
"Only the Transfiguration teacher, Dumbledore, seemed to think Hagrid was innocent. He persuaded Dippet to keep Hagrid and train him as gamekeeper. Yes, I think Dumbledore might have guessed. Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did..."  
  
"I bet Dumbledore saw right through you", said Harry, his teeth gritted.  
  
"Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled", said Tom carelessly. "I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."  
  
"Well, you haven't finished it", said Harry triumphantly. "No one's died this time, not even the cat. In a few hours the Mandrake Draught will be ready and everyone who was Petrified will be all right again."  
  
"Haven't I already told you", said Tom quietly, "that killing Mudbloods doesn't matter to me any more? For many months now, my new target has been-you."  
  
Harry stared at him.  
  
"Imagine how disappointed I was when the next time my diary was opened, it was Usagi who was writing to me, not you. She saw you with the diary, you see, and panicked. What if you found out how to work it, and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if, even worse, I told you who'd been strangling roosters? So the foolish little girl waited until your dormitory was deserted and stole it back. But I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Usagi had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery-particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Usagi had told me that the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue...  
  
"So I made Usagi write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait for me".  
  
"But the message said 'the girl will remain within the Chamber forever'", Harry pointed out.  
  
"Yes, the girl will, but the woman will stay by my side. I've decided to keep her. Her Lunarian healing powers have given me life enough to leave the pages of the diary. She is very beautiful, and she loves me, therefore she shall make an excellent mate, so I made her wait here until you would come so I could meet you...I have so many questions for you, Harry Potter."  
  
"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.  
  
"Well", said Tom, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing by a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"  
  
There was an odd red gleam in his hungry eyes now.  
  
"Why do you care how I escaped?" said Harry slowly. "Voldemort was after your time".  
  
"Voldemort", said Riddle softly, "is my past, present and future, Harry Potter..."  
  
He pulled Harry's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:  
  
TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE  
Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:  
  
I AM LORD VOLDEMORT  
  
"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"  
  
Harry's brain seemed to have jammed. He stared numbly at Tom, at the orphaned boy who had grown up to murder Harry's own parents, and so many others...At last he forced himself to speak.  
  
"You're not", he said, his quiet voice full of hatred.  
  
"Not what?" snapped Tom.  
  
"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world", said Harry, breathing fast. "Sorry to disappoint you, and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. Everyone says so. Even when you were strong, you didn't dare try and take over at Hogwarts. Dumbledore saw through you when you were at school and he still frightens you now, wherever you're hiding these days."  
  
The smile had gone from Riddle's face, to be replaced by a very ugly look.  
  
"Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me!" he hissed.  
  
"He's not as gone as you might think!" Harry retorted. He was speaking at random, wanting to scare Tom, wishing rather than believing it to be true.  
  
Tom opened his mouth, but froze.  
  
Music was coming from somewhere. Tom whirled around to stare down the empty chamber. The music was growing louder. It was eerie, spine-tingling, unearthly; it lifted the hair on Harry's scalp and made his heart feel as though it was swelling to twice its size. The music caused Usagi to stir, and push herself up off the floor to stand near Tom, she was confused as well and looked upwards. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating inside his own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar.  
  
A crimson bird the size of a swan had appeared, piping its weird music to the vaulted ceiling. It had a glittering golden tail as long as a peacock's and gleaming golden talons, which were gripping a ragged bundle.  
  
A second later, the bird was flying straight at Harry. It dropped the ragged thing it was carrying at his feet, then landed heavily on his shoulder. As it folded its great wings, Harry looked up and saw it had a long, sharp golden beak and beady black eyes.  
  
The bird stopped singing. It sat still and warm next to Harry's cheek, gazing steadily at Tom.  
  
"That's a phoenix..." said Usagi softly, staring at the bird, then looking at Tom who was staring shrewdly at it.  
  
"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently.  
  
"And that-" said Tom, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped, "that's the old school Sorting Hat".  
  
So it was. Patched, frayed and dirty, the hat lay motionless at Harry's feet.   
  
Tom began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once.  
  
"This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?"  
  
Harry didn't answer. Usagi picked up the diary from the floor, clutching it tightly to her chest and moved towards Tom, lightly touching his arm with delicate fingers.  
  
"Don't kill him..." she whispered softly, "he, other than Ginny, was the only student ever nice to me..."   
  
Tom forgot Harry's presence for the briefest of moments, and gave a smile down at Usagi, (although the smile was cold and evil), he brushed her lips with his own, causing her crescent mark to glow again, energy draining from her. Usagi collapsed, but this time, Tom dropped Harry's wand on the ground and lifted Usagi into his arms.  
  
"To business, Harry", said Tom, still smiling broadly. "Twice-in your past, in my future-we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk", he added softly, "the longer you stay alive".  
  
Harry was thinking fast, weighing his chances. Tom had dropped the wand. He, Harry, had Fawkes and the Sorting Hat, neither of which would be much good in a duel. It looked bad, all right. Tom's outline was becoming more solid, ever since he had kissed Usagi and took more of her healing power.   
  
"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me", said Harry abruptly. "I don't know myself. But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother", he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul!"  
  
Tom's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile.  
  
"So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful counter-charm. I can see now-there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. Because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike...But after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know".  
  
Tom shifted Usagi slightly in his arms, and again both began glowing.  
  
"You can't apparate in or out of this school!" Harry said, urgently, hoping that Tom Riddle wouldn't be able to escape. Tom's twisted smile widened again.  
  
"No, I can't...but *she* can...she's a Lunarian, remember..." The glowing became brighter and brighter. He turned towards the huge statue.  
  
"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four".  
  
Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his shoulder.  
  
Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horror struck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole.  
  
And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.  
  
Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut his eyes tight he felt Fawkes' wing sweep his cheek as he took flight. Harry wanted to shout, "don't leave me!" but what chance did a phoenix have against the king of serpents?  
  
Something huge hit the stone floor of the chamber, Harry felt it shudder. He knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Tom's hissing voice: "Kill him."  
  
And with a flash of bright silver, Tom and Usagi disappeared, leaving Harry alone with the Basilisk.  
  
****  
~Dobby's Reward  
Dumbledore crossed to one of the chairs by the fire.  
  
"Sit down, Harry", he said, and Harry sat, feeling unaccountably nervous.  
  
"First of all, Harry, I want to thank you", said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling again. "You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber. Nothing but that could have called Fawkes to you".  
  
He stroked the phoenix, which had fluttered down onto his knee. Harry grinned awkwardly as Dumbledore watched him.  
  
"He took her, Professor", said Harry sadly, "and I couldn't stop him..." there was a moment of awkward silence, Harry eyed the bloodied sword sitting on the desk.  
  
He had defeated the Basilisk, with the help of Fawkes, and had made it out of the Chamber, the phoenix having lifted himself, Ron and the amnesiac-Lockhart out. Dumbledore broke the awkward silence.  
  
"And so you met Tom Riddle", said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "I imagine he was most interested in you..."  
****  
AN: done! So? What do you think? The first Voldemort/Usagi (that I know of), I've had this idea floating around in my head since I started my last fic.  
  
The chapter names mean excerpts that I used from the actual CoS are from those chapters incase you want to look it up in the book.   
  
I don't know if I want to continue this, it was just a fancy, as I said before. 


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